1966 NSWRFL season

The 1966 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 59th season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Ten clubs from across the city competed for the J.J. Giltinan Shield and the WD & HO Wills Cup during the season, which culminated in a replay of the 1964 grand final between St. George and Balmain.

1966 New South Wales Rugby Football League
Teams	10
Premiers	St. George (13th title)
Minor premiers	St. George (12th title)
Matches played	95
Points scored	2715
Attendance	1293261
Top points scorer(s)	Bob Lanigan (185)
Wooden spoon	Eastern Suburbs (4th spoon)
Top try-scorer(s)	Johnny King (15)
← 1965 1967 →

Season summary

1966 was the last season played under the unlimited tackle rule. Balmain, with their talented raw rookie recruit Arthur Beetson, appeared to be about to topple the Dragons from their long-held perch when the Tigers won eleven consecutive regular season games. However a late season slump saw them pegged back to the rest of the field and an eventual second place on the minor-premiership ladder behind the Dragons, who were being led by new captain-coach Ian Walsh.

Eastern Suburbs did not win a single match in 1966, continuing a losing streak that started in round 14, 1965 and which would run till round 2, 1967. This marked the second-most consecutive losses in NSWRFL premiership history at 25 behind University’s 42 in the middle 1930s. Their winless streak ran a total of 29 games between their 11–9 win over Canterbury in Round 12, 1965 and beating North Sydney 17–11 in Round 6 of 1967. As of 2023^[update], this remains the last time any team would go through an Australian rugby league season winless.^[1]

No team would finish a season on zero points again until the Melbourne Storm finished last in the 2010 NRL season as punishment for gross salary cap breaches uncovered by the NRL in April that year.^[2]

Teams

Balmain 59th season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Harry Bath Captain: Keith Barnes	Canterbury-Bankstown 32nd season Ground: Belmore Sports Ground Captain-coach: Roger Pearman→George Taylforth	Eastern Suburbs 59th season Ground: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Bert Holcroft Captains: Ron Saddler / Ken Ashcroft	Manly-Warringah 20th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Wally O'Connell Captains: Frank Stanton / Ken Day	Newtown 59th season Ground: Henson Park Coach: Dick Poole Captain: Paul Quinn
North Sydney 59th season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Fred Griffiths Captain: Billy Wilson	Parramatta 20th season Ground: Cumberland Oval Captain-coach: Ken Thornett	South Sydney 59th season Ground: Redfern Oval Coach: Bernie Purcell Captain(s): Jim Lisle / Bob Moses	St. George 46th season Ground: Jubilee Oval Captain-coach: Ian Walsh	Western Suburbs 59th season Ground: Pratten Park Captain-Coach: Noel Kelly

Regular season

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	F1	F2	F3	F4	GF
Balmain	STG +3	EAS +6	CBY +4	MAN +5	SOU +4	PAR +9	NOR +20	NEW +3	WES +5	STG +7	EAS +23	CBY −4	MAN +13	SOU −8	X	PAR −2	NOR −5	NEW −2	WES −5	X	X	STG −8	MAN +3	STG −19
Canterbury-Bankstown	WES −10	NEW −7	BAL −4	EAS +15	STG −2	MAN −23	SOU +4	NOR −9	PAR +2	WES +3	NEW +5	BAL +4	EAS +2	STG −2	X	MAN −4	SOU −19	NOR +6	PAR −12
Eastern Suburbs	NEW −7	BAL −6	STG −26	CBY −15	MAN −17	SOU −7	PAR −12	WES −9	NOR −18	NEW −6	BAL −23	STG −15	CBY −2	MAN −53	NOR −13	SOU −30	PAR −9	WES −31	X
Manly-Warringah	NOR +10	WES −7	NEW −8	BAL −5	EAS +17	CBY +23	STG −19	PAR −7	SOU −11	NOR +6	WES +21	NEW +16	BAL −13	EAS +53	X	CBY +4	STG +2	PAR +4	SOU +6	X	NEW +1	X	BAL −3
Newtown	EAS +7	CBY +7	MAN +8	SOU +4	PAR +7	NOR +8	WES −1	BAL −3	STG −17	EAS +6	CBY −5	MAN −16	SOU +10	PAR −7	X	NOR +9	WES −5	BAL +2	STG −2	WES +15	MAN −1
North Sydney	MAN −10	SOU +5	PAR +8	STG −1	WES −5	NEW −8	BAL −20	CBY +9	EAS +18	MAN −6	SOU −22	PAR 0	STG −11	WES +9	EAS +13	NEW −9	BAL +5	CBY −6	X
Parramatta	SOU −10	STG 0	NOR −8	WES +11	NEW −7	BAL −9	EAS +12	MAN +7	CBY −2	SOU −16	STG −10	NOR 0	WES +10	NEW +7	X	BAL +2	EAS +9	MAN −4	CBY +12
South Sydney	PAR +10	NOR −5	WES +6	NEW −4	BAL −4	EAS +7	CBY −4	STG −28	MAN +11	PAR +16	NOR +22	WES −4	NEW −10	BAL +8	X	EAS +30	CBY +19	STG −29	MAN −6
St. George	BAL −3	PAR 0	EAS +26	NOR +1	CBY +2	WES +28	MAN +19	SOU +28	NEW +17	BAL −7	PAR +10	EAS +15	NOR +11	CBY +2	X	WES −3	MAN −2	SOU +29	NEW +2	X	X	BAL +8	X	BAL +19
Western Suburbs	CBY +10	MAN +7	SOU −6	PAR −11	NOR +5	STG −28	NEW +1	EAS +9	BAL −5	CBY −3	MAN −21	SOU +4	PAR −10	NOR −9	X	STG +3	NEW +5	EAS +31	BAL +5	NEW −15
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	F1	F2	F3	F4	GF

Bold – Home game
X – Bye
Opponent for round listed above margin

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	St. George	18	13	1	4	331	156	+175	27
2	Balmain	18	12	0	6	279	203	+76	24
3	Manly	18	11	0	7	348	256	+92	22
4	Newtown	18	10	0	8	261	249	+12	20
5	Western Suburbs	18	10	0	8	228	241	-13	20
6	South Sydney	18	9	0	9	263	228	+35	18
7	Parramatta	18	8	2	8	236	232	+4	18
8	Canterbury	18	8	0	10	244	295	-51	16
9	North Sydney	18	7	1	10	282	313	-31	15
10	Eastern Suburbs	18	0	0	18	147	446	-299	0

Ladder progression

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 4.
• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
• Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished last place on the ladder in that round.
• Underlined numbers indicate that the team had a bye during that round.

	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
1	St. George	0	1	3	5	7	9	11	13	15	15	17	19	21	23	23	23	23	25	27
2	Balmain	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	22	24	24	24	24	24	24	24
3	Manly-Warringah	2	2	2	2	4	6	6	6	6	8	10	12	12	14	14	16	18	20	22
4	Newtown	2	4	6	8	10	12	12	12	12	14	14	14	16	16	16	18	18	20	20
5	Western Suburbs	2	4	4	4	6	6	8	10	10	10	10	12	12	12	12	14	16	18	20
6	South Sydney	2	2	4	4	4	6	6	6	8	10	12	12	12	14	14	16	18	18	18
7	Parramatta	0	1	1	3	3	3	5	7	7	7	7	8	10	12	12	14	16	16	18
8	Canterbury-Bankstown	0	0	0	2	2	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	14	14	14	16	16
9	North Sydney	0	2	4	4	4	4	4	6	8	8	8	9	9	11	13	13	15	15	15
10	Eastern Suburbs	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Playoff
Newtown	20–5	Western Suburbs	23 August 1966	Sydney Sports Ground	W.Kelly	10,724
Semi-finals
Manly-Warringah	10–9	Newtown	27 August 1966	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	31,803
St. George	10–2	Balmain	3 September 1966	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	46,531
Preliminary Final
Balmain	8–5	Manly-Warringah	10 September 1966	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	39,461
Grand Final
St. George	23–4	Balmain	18 September 1966	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	61,129

Grand Final

1966 (1966) NSWRFL Grand Final
St. George Balmain 23 4
1 2 Total STG 14 9 23 BAL 4 0 4
Date	17 September 1966
Stadium	Sydney Cricket Ground
Location	Sydney
Man of the Match	John Raper (STG)
Referee	Col Pearce
Attendance	61,129
Broadcast partners
Broadcasters	ABC, Network Ten
← 1965 1967 →

Teams

Balmain had to replace John Spencer (broken hand) and George Piper (knee) in the days before the match after they suffered injuries in their win over Manly the previous week.^[3] Ken Maddison, Dick Huddart, and Trevor Levin made their Grand Final debuts for St. George. Brian Clay equalled Norm Provan's record of ten Grand Final appearances, having played two with Newtown before joining St. George.^[4]

Team details

St. George		Position	Balmain
Name	Number		Number	Name
Graeme Langlands	1	FB	1	Keith Barnes (c)
Eddie Lumsden	2	WG	3	Paul Cross
Bruce Pollard	3	CE	2	Kevin Yow Yeh
Ken Maddison	4	CE	4	Laurie Moraschi
Johnny King	5	WG	5	Bob Mara
Brian Clay	6	FE	6	Peter Jones
Billy Smith	7	HB	7	Dave Bolton
Kevin Ryan	13	PR	13	Gary Leo
Ian Walsh (captain-coach)	12	HK	12	Bob Boland
Robin Gourley	11	PF	11	Brian Sullivan
Elton Rasmussen	10	SR	10	Dennis Tutty
Dick Huddart	9	SR	9	Arthur Beetson
Johnny Raper	8	LK	8	Peter Provan
Trevor Levin	21	Replacement	15	Dave Cooper
		Replacement	16	Sid Williams
		Coach		Harry Bath
[5][4]

Match details

Balmain had beaten St. George twice in the regular season and in their coach Harry Bath, who had helped design the Dragons premiership winning formula, had a tactician well placed to counter it. They had a number of young players in Arthur Beetson, Kevin Yow Yeh and Dennis Tutty who could trouble the Dragons, plus the experience of Dave Bolton, Peter Provan and the unrivalled goal-kicking brilliance of captain Keith Barnes.

The opening skirmishes on the day of the decider were balanced. Balmain took an early lead when Barnes kicked a penalty goal, while Graeme Langlands levelled the scores with a penalty goal a few minutes later following an injury break when Balmain halfback Dave Bolton needed medical attention. Bolton limped back into position, but was hampered by a leg injury. A couple of minutes later St. George's Billy Smith struck back when he set up a run around movement with Brian Clay, which led to a try to Bruce Pollard. Langlands kicked the conversion from the sideline to take the Dragons lead to 7–2.

The turning point of the match came soon after when the Dragons' English import Dick Huddart and Ian Walsh put on a set move as the Tigers' defence rushed up too early. Walsh bust through the line and with only the fullback to beat and passed the ball to Huddart who raced 30 yards to score. Due to the injury he sustained earlier in the match, Balmain halfback Dave Bolton left the field following the Huddart try receiving a pain-killing injection, but did return with bandages around his leg a few minutes later.^[6]

Trevor Levin came on after halftime for St. George in place of Robin Gourley, while for Balmain Sid Williams and Dave Cooper came on for Bolton and Brian Sullivan.^[6]

After about 12 minutes of the second half, Dragons halfback Billy Smith sliced through and found Johnny Raper who got to the Balmain 25-yard line before finding prop Kevin Ryan in support. It was a spectacular run from the evergreen forward who out-raced his pursuers and dived through the air to score and put the match beyond doubt.

Balmain had tried to slow down the Dragons with stifling tactics but this backfired and resulted in a lopsided penalty count. Classy Dragons fullback Graeme Langlands capitalised on this, kicking seven goals from 13 attempts, including 10 penalty goal attempts.

Huddart was dominant for the clinical Saints who did not concede a try for a staggering seventh time in eight grand final victories. He had been niggled early in the game by the Balmain forwards and responded by running freely all match and crashing the Tigers with fiery tackles.

With the full-time siren St George had won their 11th successive Grand Final, setting a record^[7] that is unlikely to be ever broken in first grade rugby league. It was their most convincing Grand Final win since 1961.^[8]

It was the last game played for the club by Dragons enforcer Kevin Ryan after seven Grand Final wins and also the farewell match for wing Eddie Lumsden who had appeared in nine of the victories.

After the match Balmain coach Harry Bath said "I knew we were gone after 15 minutes. Lack of experience... was a big factor."^[9]

Scoreboard

1966 NSWRFL Grand Final

Saturday, 17 September 15:00 AEST (UTC+10)

St. George	23 – 4	Balmain
Tries: 3 Pollard  12' Huddart  19' Ryan  54' Goals: 7 Langlands  pen 6', 13', 20', pen 32', pen 51', 55', pen 78' (7/13)	1st: 14-4 2nd: 9-0 [4][5]	Goals: 2 Barnes  pen 3', pen 38' (2/2)

Sydney Cricket Ground Attendance: 61,129[a] Referee: Col Pearce Player of the Match: John Raper[10][11]

Other matches

South Sydney won the reserve grade Grand Final 12–5 against Balmain. Souths scored two converted tries and a penalty goal, while Balmain scored one converted try. It was Souths first reserve grade premiership in 10 years.^[12]

In the third grade Grand Final, St. George convincingly defeated South Sydney 12–4, scoring two tries in the first half.^[13]

Player statistics

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 18.

Top 5 point scorers Points Player Tries Goals Field Goals 168 Bob Lanigan 2 81 0 167 Bob Batty 5 76 0 120 Keith Barnes 0 60 0 113 Fred Griffiths 3 52 0 110 Graeme Langlands 6 46 0 Top 5 try scorers Tries Player 13 Ken Irvine 11 Johnny King 11 Alec Tennant 11 Michael Cleary 10 John Mowbray 10 Fred Pickup

Top 5 goal scorers Goals Player 81 Bob Lanigan 76 Bob Batty 60 Keith Barnes 52 Fred Griffiths 48 George Taylforth

Notes

1. Originally published as 60,079 during the television broadcast, but published sources state 61,129.